What is your opinion on Sokka? Do you think any of the criticism of Aang not being very emotionally supportive towards Katara and other characters apply to him too? I don’t really have very strong feelings about Sokka as a character but a lot of fans really seem to put him on a pedestal which I don’t get either
I think there's enough evidence in the show that Sokka will support and defend his sister- even if he's not always super comfortable with emotional stuff all the time (makes sense)- and he's definitely smarter than a lot of people in the fandom give him credit for. He's a bit of a jerk towards her sometimes, but what older brother isn't? I like Sokka, and his relationship with Katara, and I wish it had been explored more. I wish they could've have a conversation about their mother and how her death affected them and their dynamic. I don't really know what you mean by putting him on a pedestal, though. I know there are certain fans who like to attribute Katara's virtues to him for...reasons, but I don't interact with them so I don't really know what they're saying about him.
I did see someone's art recently that implied that Katara and Sokka raised each other, and...I think it's a bit of an overstatement, but I believe Sokka would do whatever he could to protect his baby sister. The one moment that stands out to me where he's not ten toes down for Katara is when he says Aang is right in TSR. It's so wildly OOC that I can't even contextualize it with the rest of his character. He doesn't always agree with Katara, and that's fine, but to side with Aang when he's comparing her pursuit of justice for their mother to Jet's trying to drown a whole town in his indiscriminate rage? That just doesn't make any sense to me.
